PRE-TRIB' ROOT EXPOSED

Leading pre-tribulationists admit that the Bible does not straight-forwardly proclaim a coming of Jesus prior to the tribulation period, for which reason they will, in a spirit of contention, suggest that the post-trib' rapture position is on an equally-absent Biblical foundation.

But no straight-forward scripture is required to support post-tribulationism because the rapture is well-documented to occur at the coming of Jesus, while the coming of Jesus, whenever its timing can be ascertained, is always after the tribulation period. Who can deny that Jesus comes at Armageddon, and that Armageddon is after the tribulation period? No one dares to oppose these two, well-documented facts.

This, therefore, is all the proof that post-tribulationists require, and it places the onus on the pre-tribulationist to prove that Jesus comes before the tribulation. Until the pre-tribber can do that, he has no business telling you that there will, as a fact, be a pre-trib' rapture, or that the post-trib' rapture is on shaky ground. Let me put it this way, the post-trib rapture is on shaky ground only if the pre-tribber can prove a pre-trib Coming, but as the pre-tribber admits that there is no clear-cut scripture to support a pre-trib coming, the consequence is a rapture occurring at the only other Coming known to Scripture.

In order to derive pre-tribulationism, we must force the interpretations of certain scriptures in ways not readily apparent. It's very much like making out an object in a dense fog where, if one strains the eyes hard enough, something can be seen that isn't really there. Or, the teachings are like glasses providing new perspectives on the most basic post-tribulation scriptures, and, like magnifying glasses, they can turn some texts on their heads so that they appear to support a pre-tribulation rapture instead.

Larger portions of associated scriptures are tainted by the initial abstractions, wherefore there are repercussions, especially in the way Christians will one day approach the end times. I wouldn't be so inclined to making highly-oppositional statements if it were otherwise. I now make them confidently because it has come to my attention that pre-tribulationism was born within a small body of Latter-Rain, Zionist charismatics engaging in false prophecies, whose registered leader (Henry Drummond, banker) was in turn connected by certain Christian-Zionist groups to the world-rulership program of the Rothschilds...who have for three centuries been intent on procuring Zionism and the related counterfeit Millennium. Zionism has become a good word in Christendom thanks to pre-tribbers, but has anyone ever told you that Zionism is based on Satanic men no better than the Pharisees?

Something to consider, isn't it, before you give your support to modern Israel, the same Israel that God is very angry toward? You probably feel (as I do) that God opposes the Muslims who oppose Israel, and yet you may not realize that God is empowering the Muslims to destroy Israel. That's unusual passion, my friends, that God would use even His enemies to destroy His Promised Land.

Approaching the rapture debate by giving all views equal status would boost pre-tribulation teachings to a credible level, but such an unbiased approach would only increase the risk to the reader, for pre-tribulationism is going to be directly responsible for jeopardizing the lives of millions of believers. This is not to say that all pre-trib' writers have been deliberately leading the Church to harm, but that, regardless of the particular spirit of passion that moves them today, the doctrine harms by promoting an unprepared condition for facing the coming skincode.

I plan to investigate further as to whether Freemasons have congregated in pre-tribulation camps, posing as Biblical teachers but carrying out the wicked work of an Illuminati having every inclination to abandon us helplessly to the coming mark of the beast. The original purpose of the pre-tribulation appearance of Jesus, in my ever-growing opinion, was to provide an invisible return of Christ, a very necessary part of a counterfeit-Millennial scheme. In other words, a counterfeit Millennium requires a counterfeit appearance of Jesus, and, as Charles Russell, for example, claimed an invisible coming of Jesus in 1914, so the Illuminatists of the Catholic Apostolic Church must have plotted in the same way when first devising the pre-tribulation appearance of Jesus. Yes, pre-tribulationism was born in that very cult.

The rapture is not an easy event to counterfeit, but Latter Rainists are still with us today, stronger than ever, and they are working hard to re-define the rapture as a transformation event to occur, not in the clouds, but on earth as a Rosicrucian-like process called "Manifest Sons of God." In this process, the Christians are supposed to take on amazing bodies while still here on earth, so as to turn the world into the Millennium, apart from the visible appearance of Jesus. It's a grand hoax, so watch for it.

The rapture issue is not trivial for those who wish to enter eternal life. And this book is not a debate; it is a vital message...one that would be betrayed if I were to present pre-tribulationism as a worthy doctrine. Although I sympathize with the fear of pre-trib' believers who cling to their interpretation of the "blessed hope," I will not be found guilty in this book of comforting them in their error. But in the spirit of the late Jim McKeever, I stress the making of certain physical preparations for our bodies so that our spirits may not fail us in the coming time of testing.

My concern is not to produce a contentious situation for the purpose of entertaining Christians who might enjoy jousting on this matter. Yet it's not time for post-tribbers to bite their tongues for fear of ruffling feathers when too many are about to be led to mass religio-cide. The message we have has of late become relevant to the very salvation of those who have already taken on the name of Christ. If that sounds strange, please consider that the devastating skincode system will rob the salvation of many. The communication of the trib-prep message into the churches should now, therefore, be considered on par with any typical missionary effort to the masses.

Am I suggesting that Hal Lindsey and other recognized giants of prophecy are mistreating scripture? I can't know what for certain motivates these knowledgeable people in regards to the rapture question, and I have wondered how they could get something all so wrong. In my most-critical assessments, I see them as insidious Illuminatists, men of the occult presenting themselves as true Light. But among my most-generous conclusions is that they have so deeply committed themselves to their theory, and have been so well received by individual Christians as well as entire denominations that they delight in being the doctrine's holy messengers.

Even though there are significant post-tribulation scriptures offering direct evidence for a post-tribulation rapture, some modern pre-tribulationists have actually suggested that these texts represent God's method of disguising the pre-trib' truth until the last days. And at times they have openly asserted that their own pre-trib' colleagues are the modern prophets which are now disclosing the real pre-trib' truths hidden in the post-trib' scriptures. Imagine that. With such a "high calling," no wonder that the theory is propagated with such zeal! And no wonder that they feel easy in altering the meanings of all sorts of scriptures to their cause.

I suggest corrective viewpoints for pre-tribbers to embrace, which may turn out to be strong medicine, but, lo and behold, I as an avid post-tribber do have a Christian heart after all, so I'll present it in small doses for the duration of this book rather than all at once. The prescription is the acceptance of the Biblical call to endure tribulation and soul-suffering in order to somehow perfect the new creation that God is creating within us. This difficult process towards maturity is our time in incubation, and it continues only if we endure our trials without falling away from the Faith. What is a trial, after all, if it doesn't shake our Faith?

But at the appearance of Jesus, like glistening art taken from the King's kiln, we will be the envy of the world. If, therefore, I urge you to prepare to suffer the tribulation period, do not be stupefied as though I were deserting the Biblical path. If ever the Father has ordained good to come of evil, this period before us is going to be the Master Transformation. The members of the occult can only dream of receiving the same from Satan, for that demon's creative powers are always working toward his own stomach.

While the rapture is defined as an instant transportation to the clouds, with the purpose of sparing Christians the fires of Armageddon intended for the tares, it can also be defined as "ecstasy," for it is a real transformation in every respect in which great grief turns to incomprehensible joy. So take heart.

Jesus told us to keep a watchful eye out for the fearful signs of His return...i.e. signs occurring in the final seven years...not only revealing that He would come back for us after the signs, but that those who didn't watch might end up being left behind in Armageddon. It is no secret that those who wear pre-trib' glasses are minimizing the importance of watching for the signs, assuring us that no one need worry about the signs because the Church will be gone in rapture prior to them. Apparently, pre-trib' perspectives are so distorting that it doesn't dawn on those who hide behind them that it's counter-productive, backward, and even tragic, to put the return of the Lord before the signs of His return.

They consider it a ministry in itself to continually hold the comforting "Blessed Hope" before the Church in order to check the "alarmist" or "rock-the-boat" post-trib' proponents. Therefore, there have been many skilled writers promoting pre-tribulationism with evangelistic fervor, stacking Christian supply stores in their favor and thereby creating a leaning amongst uninformed Christian readers in the intended direction. Church leaders and seminaries are not afraid to preach the Comfort Theory openly as established doctrine, thereby causing many adherents to promote it confidently in Christian social circles. These factors sometimes combine to give the impression that pre-tribulationism is the status quo of the churches, contributing to the timidity of post-tribbers. However, the post-trib' position is quite pervasive even in the face of this misplaced zeal, and has been said to be in the majority worldwide.

That the post-trib' position has such strong acceptance while the propaganda so strongly opposes it is a considerable testimony of the concrete post-trib' language of the Bible, for there is no other factor among all of mankind other than the Bible itself that would want to promote such an undesirable prospect as the endurance of great persecution. But if the Bible promotes the idea, it should hardly be viewed as undesirable.

We remember how Jesus told the apostles that not a hair of their heads would be harmed, and yet they were murdered and otherwise persecuted harshly. Ditto for the tribulation period...the coming threats are indeed avoidable, and yet they are avoidable through loyalty to Christ amid the persecutions. In other words, the threats are not so much the persecutions themselves, but the failure to remain loyal amid them.

MARGARET MACDONALD

To my great relief, post-trib' books have been making it to the retail shelves of late. There is even a stunning book ("The Incredible Cover-up," Dave MacPherson, Omega Publications) that in detail explains the spawning of the pre-trib' theory near 1830 in association with the utterances of a Scottish teen (15 years old), Margaret Macdonald. Her reported "visions," as they have been labeled by her supporters, concerned the return of Christ, and, judging by the words, there can be no doubt that she believed in the passage of the Church through the tribulation period.

However, she also spoke something curious and absolutely new which reflects a basic tenet of the pre-tribulation rapture doctrine: she said that some Christians would see Christ coming, not with the natural eyes, but only with Spiritual eyes...meaning of course that the world would not see Him.

Not that I doubt the possibility of our being able to see apart from our optic nerves, if God should give us the ability, as, for example, He gave it to the disciple, Stephen (Acts 7), but it must be said that this particular idea coming from Margaret is quite clearly an extra-Biblical teaching. Jesus in Matthew 24:30 said that even non-believers will see him when he returns (and therefore mourn), and Revelation confirms this where it says, "EVERY EYE WILL SEE HIM" (1:7). Yet Margaret's claim was that even some believers will not see Jesus at his return because these will not be gifted with Spiritual eyes.

The words said to be Margaret's (I have doubts that she spoke them) are very much like my own, and speak of the coming persecutions and temptations at the hand of the anti-Christ period, and the need for us to be guided by the Holy Spirit in order to endure the period in the Faith. I do not believe that the writer of her words was portraying a pre-tribulation rapture, nor even a pre-tribulation coming of Jesus. The main concern of the "vision" is the promotion of a special Outpouring, which no one on Earth had yet received from God, but which was scheduled exclusively for the future period of Church tribulation. This is the basis of the Latter-Rain doctrine, advanced by Edward Irving, a friend of the MacDonald family, as well as David Bogue his contemporary in London, and Lewis Way of the "Jews' Society."

While I can easily accept that some additional Outpouring will be Offered us to combat the anti-Christ, I do not agree with the picture painted by the Latter Rain movement, which to this day is a Great Revival that is to come upon earth wherein all Christians become like the Two Witnesses in Revelation 11...miracle-working supermen of God that spit flames from their tongues and send the enemy reeling with tails between their legs. But Jesus didn't ask without reason, "When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith in the earth?" That statement concerning the earth's condition at the end reveals the very opposite of a global revival. And didn't Jesus state point-blank that there will be a great falling away from Him and a love growing cold even among believers? While a revival is defined as the lukewarm believers becoming hot, Jesus affirmed that the lukewarm would become cold. That's what we should expect, therefore, sad as it is.

People from all over Great Britain lined up at Margaret's door to hear more because the tribulation was being said to be within a few years...while God was reportedly about to send the "fire" of His Spirit upon His wise virgins, like never before, for the Conducting of incredible miracles, etc. Too many in attendance believed the utterances to be of God, and Latter Rain caught on somewhat, especially as a bold Edward Irving and his financial support, the wealthy "apostle" Henry Drummond, promoted the same.

Margaret's Latter-Rain outlook can be seen in the vision most explicitly with these words: "...there will be an outpouring of the Spirit on the body, such as has not been, a baptism of fire...Oh there must be and will be such an indwelling of the living God as has not been."

This is akin to the so-called "full gospel" that some charismatics preach, a phrase that accuses all other believers of having a mere portion of the gospel. The reality is that the born-again experience is itself the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but the "full gospel" is an imagined extra filling of the Holy Spirit taught to occur after one's born-again experience. The extra filling is said to be necessary for speaking in tongues, prophesying, performing miracles, and in some charismatic circles serves as the ultimate evidence of true salvation.

Wonderful. I wish I could have these gifts, what a great life that would be. I did want them, in fact, more than anything. I wish to be like the Two Witnesses...but not at the expense of fooling myself into thinking I have it when I don't, or thinking that I've just about obtained it, if only I could do a little better service, a little better prayer time, a little better Bible reading. I don't think so. Either He gives it, or every attempt to have it is in vain. We can't have the power of God by our own wills, for if we could, the churches would be filled with mighty people. Obviously, God's will is that we develop good character and grow strong in some hardships, not funnel miracle-power from our fingertips. Each one who belongs to Him will perform many miracles over a lifetime, but most miracles will be subdued, known privately only to the individual, usually through a simple, heart-felt request for the benefit of another in need.

In the Latter-Rain movement that extended from Edward Irving to John Dowie to the Pentecostalism of Charles Parham and many others, the extra-Spirit movement led to a counterfeit Spirituality, fully expected from those seeking to procure a counterfeit Millennium. But the Irvingite movement also produced a doctrinally-perverted Latter-Rain scheme that even the Pentecostals of the mid-20th century condemned. In it's full form, it's the proposal to overthrow the governments of the world in the Name and Strength of God.

What can we say about the secret coming espoused by Margaret (or whoever wrote the "vision"), which only Latter Rainists could see and partake in? Just as her Latter-Rain view, though appearing innocent, was transformed by the Irvingites into a plot to rule Europe, and thereby the world, in the name of Christ, so her view of the secret Appearance was transformed by the Irvingites into a pre-tribulation Appearance. Indeed, this is why I do not believe that Margaret wrote the vision, but rather someone in the Irving scheme (e.g. Robert Norton) wrote it on her behalf, to facilitate Latter Rain and pre-tribulationism as innocently as possible (i.e. through a child in this case), that the world would not suspect the conspirators.

Note that Charles Russell, a Zionist Freemason, predicted (as early as 1886) the invisible coming of Jesus for 1914, the first year of World War I...a war that the Rothschilds (known initiators of the League of Nations) had apparently hoped to pass off as Armageddon. In fact, Russell himself had "predicted" that 1914 would see "the complete overthrow of earth's present rulership" (The Time Is at Hand, 1907, p. 101), which sounds as though the Zionist plan was to set Israel up, after the War, as the world empire. Russell was the creator of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, if that proves to you that the Illuminati was intent on entering evangelical-Christian circles to deceive the true people of Christ.

It is difficult to know with certainty, however, whether the first World War was a trial run, a stepping stone, or a botched attempt at setting up the Millennium. There is evidence to show that the Rothschilds had, from as long ago as the Westcott-and-Hort era (mid 1800s), planned the Millennium for 2000, explaining why the British Royal family had a role in the Oslo Accords, a counterfeit seven-year peace treaty with Israel signed in 1993 (i.e. so that it ended in 2000).

The peace treaty failed, for the Muslims could not be appeased, wherefore the Illuminati finds itself at this time (2003) attempting to eradicate the Muslim problem with Plan B, this time a military offensive (i.e. the war on Terrorism). The Millennial rule has therefore been placed on hold until such time that the Muslim problem is dealt with satisfactorily, for there cannot be a Millennial situation until Israelites and Muslims are at peace. But I predict that the problem will never be solved, and that the real Armageddon, and the real Appearance, with the real Millennium, will occur first to the utter shock of the Illuminatists.

Praise God for the amazing discoveries of such men as Dave MacPherson. The work of these post-tribulationists in uncovering some basic historical truths is greatly underrated by pre-trib' proponents, but I find their dogged efforts a great boon in our understanding of pre-tribulation rapture foundations. Even as the pre-trib' theory (as we know it today) sprouted for the first time through members of the Irving church, the man who later claimed to have written Margaret MacDonald's vision on paper, Rev. Robert Norton, was not merely a member of Irving's church...not merely extremely devoted to Irving's Latter-Rain apostolicism...but he was an avid pre-tribulationist to the day he died 53 years later!

Irving was the chief minister of the Catholic Apostolic Church, now the New Apostolic Church (new because the prophecies of the original church failed to materialize). The Apostolic Church, as the name implies, entertained its leaders as the God-ordained renewal of true apostles in these last days, an egocentric claim made in one way or another by any typical cult of the 1800s. The modern cult comes with a few Catholic colors, including transubstantiation, sanctified holy water (for baptism), and acceptance of the apocrypha. Yet the original church name, in using "Catholic," likely had as it's truest meaning the replacement of the Vatican with the New-World-Order plotted by many bankers, including Henry Drummond. The 12 apostles of that church were each to rule a section of Europe (a 13th apostle had jurisdiction over the United States), wherein each section was said to be one tribe of Israel...thus wrongly viewing the God-ordained seat of Satanic power -- Europe -- as the Israel of God.

It was the Zionism quest of that cult, which not only mirrored Rothschild Zionism but seemed to mesh with it, taking place at the same time as Rothschild Zionism, after all, which convinces me that Rothschilds were involved in the 12-apostle scheme to rule Europe spiritually. There is excellent evidence that the Anglican Church was involved in the scheme, and I have a chapter or two in this book laying out some of these matters.

Because the prelude to the pre-tribulationist era was a product of liberal (i.e. false) prophesying and other unusual activity in the Irvingite church, modern pre-tribulationists would dearly like us to overlook or deny that their theory had anything to do with Irvingites. In fact, credit for pre-trib "enlightenment" had, as Dave MacPherson reveals, been alternatively given to John Darby by those early pre-tribbers who realized that connection with Irvingism would bode very detrimental to the theory. But behold, a Christian who had been working her way up the AMORC-Rosicrucian ladder told me personally that the organization suggested the use of the Darby Bible if ever the Bible was to be used, which gives me reason to suspect that Darby was secretly a Rosicrucian.

Darby had paid a special visit to the family home of the MacDonalds when many others around Britain were lining up at Margaret's door to hear the new teachings and see the reported miraculous works with their own eyes. For the full story, get Dave MacPherson's book ("The Incredible Cover-Up")...a real eye-opener!

Darby gave birth to the Exclusive Brethren when sparring with the faction that came to be known as the Open Brethren. Both groups evolved into anti-charismatic movements, but the Exclusive Brethren turned out to be anti-everything except their own. Thus, Irving and Darby were more than proselytizers of the new pre-trib' teaching; they were also heads in their respective cults...which survive to this day.

Some pre-tribulationists have sought to show that pre-tribulationism was founded in more reliable sources of still earlier years, but nothing has turned up that would indicate anything credible prior to Irving. The pre-tribulationist dog-bone digger, Grant Jeffrey, has found one man ("Ephraim") dating back to the fourth century, who wrote one sentence about the end times in such a way as to allow his words a pre-tribulational interpretation. But this was one sentence among many Ephraim statements devoid of pre-tribulationism, and even if we entertain that lone sentence as a pre-trib' statement, it was a lone instance amid a huge Church history...that didn't burst forth into a pre-trib' movement whatsoever.

Ephraim wrote: "For all the saints and elect of God are gathered, prior to the tribulation that is to come, and are taken to the Lord lest they see the confusion that is to overwhelm the world because of our sins."

It's apparent that Ephraim's use of, "tribulation that is to come," was referring not to the 1260 days, but to Armageddon alone, because the Bible mentions two tribulations, one in Matthew 24:21 (relating to Israel's troubles), and one in Daniel 12:1, relating to the troubles of the anti-Christ and his dominion at the brink of Armageddon. There is with no doubt a Biblical theme assuring salvation via a rapture prior to terrible times, but to leap from that understanding to creating another coming of Jesus years before Armageddon is Biblically bankrupt.

To prove that Ephraim was a post-tribulationist, he also wrote, "But those who wander through the deserts, fleeing from the face of the serpent, bend their knees to God, just as lambs to the adders of their mothers, being sustained by the salvation of the Lord, and while wandering in states of desertion, they eat herbs."

The phrases, "face of the serpent" and "wander through the deserts," refer to the Revelation-12 text, specifically to the people of God in the final 1260 days. Thus, Ephraim viewed the wilderness Woman of Revelation 12 as the Church (i.e. not bloodline Israel) divinely protected within the 1260-day tribulation period...a post-tribulation doctrine that was common in the early centuries...and one that I hold to whole-heartedly.

I am one up on Jeffrey, by the way, because I found at least one pre-tribber dating all the way back to the first century. He was teaching that the Lord had already come, even though the anti-Christ had not yet shown up. He thereby rates as a pre-tribulationist, and because he was yet on Earth when he claimed that the Lord had already come, he must have been teaching an invisible coming, because no one saw it.

The problem for Jeffrey and friends is that the apostle Paul denounced the report of that pre-tribber; Paul even wrote to the Thessalonian believers warning them that this pre-tribber was a deceiver. Paul also said, under Inspiration, that believers should not be deceived by anyone teaching the same pre-tribulationism in the future, and then specified that there is no way for the gathering (i.e. rapture) to occur until the anti-Christ first comes upon the world scene.

Paul goes on still further in that section (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3), showing that the Lord doesn't come to gather us until He comes to destroy the anti-Christ. Yet, when pre-tribbers read these words of Paul today, they get a pre-trib rapture out of verse 7! Funny, that, sort of like saying, "I have a million dollars, and here's a penny to prove it." The Lord will certainly call them to answer for their rude twisting of Paul's words.

NEXT CHAPTERDoing the Meek'n Macho Thing
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